Search smh:

Search in:

Graham blasts ARU over Gill Sevens move

Ben Horne And Jim Morton

A looming tug-of-war over sevens rugby players for the Rio Olympics has been brought into sharp focus by Queensland's annoyance at losing Liam Gill to Commonwealth Games duty.

Frustrated Reds coach Richard Graham went as far as to label the Australian Rugby Union's approach to Gill to play in Glasgow next month as inappropriate.

The ARU have strongly defended their actions, but Graham's outburst highlights how player sharing between Super Rugby teams and the sevens program threatens to be a never-ending battlefield ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games.

General manager at the ARU, Andrew Fagan says clubs have known since before the start of the season that sides out of finals contention would be compelled to provide players for the Commonwealth Games.

Advertisement

That Gill is one of those head-hunted should come as no surprise to the Reds, according to Fagan, who says the Wallaby star as well as Melbourne back-rower Sean McMahon have long been on the radar due to their sevens background.

Fagan says this fact was communicated regularly to the also-ran Reds and Rebels.

However, Graham claims the ARU first contacted Gill to sound him out before they notified the 12th-placed Reds of their plans.

He says he only discovered he'd be without his star flanker for the final two Super Rugby rounds when Gill told him on Monday.

"I would have thought that (better communication) would have made life a bit easier for us. And I probably would have thought it would have been easier for the ARU to come directly to us at the start," Graham said.

"Asking the player probably isn't appropriate but that's what has happened, and we've got through that and we'll move on."

The ARU said they had been keeping Reds chief executive Jim Carmichael in the loop and were comfortable with how they communicated their interest in Gill and McMahon.

There's an inherent conflict of interest in balancing a desire to make the most of Australia's opportunity at an Olympics with the ARU's desire to also have successful Super Rugby teams and a winning Wallabies side.

The player tug-of-war will only get more intense in 2015 and 2016 when high-profile stars would have to miss 15s action to qualify for the sevens team for Rio and also prepare for the Olympics.

New national sevens coach Geraint John said on Wednesday he would make contact with all Australian Super Rugby coaches and introduce a professional culture where all parties work together.

"When Liam and Sean are here our job is to make sure we report weekly to the Reds and Rebels and tell them what we've done," John said.

"We need their (Super Rugby clubs') support. Hopefully by us doing that they'll feel comfortable that if there are other players we want in the future they'll know they're going to get a very professional environment.